Mneme
Mneme is an oblex living in Ardua Collis disguised as a human woman. She runs a combination apothecary and psychiatry within the city, and was partially responsible (along with members of the GARDE) for the defeat of Insolfsab. Appearance In her disguise, Mneme appears as a human woman of slightly above-average height and average build. She has short brown hair and bright blue eyes, with relatively soft features and pale skin. She is often seen wearing fairly plain clothing, usually a simple dress, with a leather apron and leather gloves to (ostensibly) protect herself from the potentially dangerous materials she handles when brewing potions. She has several pouches around her waist filled with various herbs and spices, which cause a variety of smells to follow her, most prominently sulfur. When she anticipates combat, she straps several potion bottles to her waist as well. In her true form, Mneme manifests as a huge writhing mass of dark red jelly. The faces of her previous victims and others whose memories she's taken constantly swim in and out of view along the surface of the mass. Mneme maintains her disguise by containing the vast majority of her body within a bag of holding, which she carries around her waist alongside her other pouches. Only a (relatively) small simulacrum remains outside the bag, with a thin tether connecting it to the bag. When eating someone's memories, Mneme's pupils turn dark red and the whites of her eyes turn black, betraying her true nature. This also occasionally happens when she becomes emotional, particularly when experiencing negative emotions such as fear, sorrow, and anger. History Hundreds of years before present day (likely the 11th century), Mneme was created by the illithid Insolfsab alongside many other oblexes created by his colony. Like the rest of her kind, she was given minimal sentience and sapience and tasked with obtaining other creatures' memories and delivering them to her master through an inherent mental connection. In order to accomplish this, she typically avoided killing her victims wherever possible, instead hoping to go mostly unnoticed. However, on occasion, she was forced to kill when against particularly resilient targets or as a form of self-defense. As she grew older and stronger, she did not divide as most oblexes do. This led to her going "insane" as her mental state deteriorated and deviated due to the excess memories. Her form of "insanity" resulted in her gaining self-awareness and, along with it, a conscience. Grief-stricken and mortified at her evil actions, she forcefully severed her mental connection with Insolfsab and began to wander the world, hoping to avoid detection by the mind flayers who may have taken her back over and heroic adventurers who may have killed her. Over the years she struggled with depression and suicidal thoughts, but never fully gave into them. After wandering for many years, she found a way to disguise herself as a human by placing her main body in a bag of holding and surrounding herself with herbs and spices to mask her natural sulfuric scent. Around 1570, she settled in Ardua Collis and established "Mneme's Apothecary and Psychiatry." She used her vast knowledge of alchemy and potion-making to create potions for the people of the city, while the psychiatric side of her business allowed her to help people with their mental states by taking their memories, analyzing them, and discussing with them what she saw. Both of these businesses also served practical purposes for her disguise, with the apothecary explaining why she carried herbs with her and smelled like sulfur, and the psychiatry allowing her to feed without arousing suspicion. She also saw both businesses as a way to make up for her past actions and establish herself a totally new identity and life. In 1575, Ardua Collis experienced a bout of widespread and temporary amnesia. Because of Mneme's psychiatric practices, she was a prime suspect as to the cause, despite the fact that the amnesia was affecting people she had not interacted with. When members of the GARDE arrived to investigate, they determined she was not the cause (at least consciously), although they encouraged her to temporarily close her psychiatry to be safe. When Insolfsab, now an illithilich, was discovered to be the true cause, the GARDE brought her in to help defeat him. Once they were successful, Mneme entered into a brief time of mourning for her "father" before reopening her business and continuing her life as normal, glad to know she was now entirely free from his influence. At present, only the six members of the GARDE (and a sentient sword) whom Mneme assisted in defeating Insolfsab are aware of her true nature as an oblex. Powers and Abilities As an oblex, Mneme has the unique ability to consume the memories of those she interacts with. The process is ordinarily mildly painful to the target, although Mneme can use this ability to attack the target's mind, doing much more damage. Regardless, the target is left with mild amnesia, making them disoriented and generally less capable both in and out of combat. The effect ends after a time of rest, and Mneme therefore tells her clients to rest before discussing their memories with her. If used multiple times without rest, the target becomes more disoriented as they lose more of their memories, eventually resulting in death. Mneme also has the ability to impersonate those whose memories she's taken, although she only uses this to generate her human disguise. She does not remember the original identity of the form she takes, although she believes it is likely they were an once alchemist as well. Because of the many memories she has consumed, Mneme is incredibly intelligent, and has knowledge of a wide variety of topics. She knows nearly every spoken language, including some dead or rare languages such as Archaic, and as such is willing to speak to her clients in whatever language makes them most comfortable. She also has much knowledge in the areas of alchemy and potions, which she uses to run the apothecary side of her business and to make new experimental potions. In combat, Mneme carries a number of potions with her, most notably healing potions of various potencies. Her potions are specially made to work through skin contact rather than ingestion, allowing her to splash them on her target(s) without the need for incredible precision. She also, although rarely, makes use of her ability to eat memories to damage her opponents and, when all else fails, has some skill in hand-to-hand combat. Trivia * Mneme is named after the Greek muse of the same name. She was one of the original three muses, and was the muse of memory, reflecting Mneme's abilities. * The design and development of Mneme as a character inspired the Lost in Thought plot line.